Geologyhound

True, but if you’re finding 19 teens from a site which was in use at that time, or a consistency in dates (like 40s and 50s pennies and nickels), then I consider that at least a hopeful indicator that similar period coinage of higher denomination may be present. Hey, a guy’s got to hope doesn’t he? 😁

I was also running iron volume four, B caps five, and silencer two, square, pitch. The nails I was catching were in the medium range (around 4 to 6 inches). I have only had my D2 for about a month. Still climbing my way up the learning curve - low gear... I may just have to take one of those nails I recovered, drop it in a hole and stick a coin close to it and see what happens. So far, I have experimented back-and-forth with square versus PWM. Even with nails and can slaw, I can’t discern a difference in tone with PWM from different approach directions. So for now, I’ve been sticking with square pitch trying to build experience and trust. In this situation with sparse iron, would a higher silencer setting help? As I’m running off of a modified fast I don’t think I have access to IAR, do I? I have F350 Platinum’s relic reaper program set up in the neighboring slot, so I suppose I could just switch back to that and maybe tweak the IAR for the day. But, I don’t know how deep a zone that would help before it perhaps became counterproductive.

If it’s truly flotsam, work your way around the edges closest to the water. Aluminum is lighter and will wash further up…

I like wheats too. I take them as a good indicator of the time the site was in use. I keep telling myself if there are wheats, then the other coins (non-nickel…) will be silver. Of course, the only two silver war nickels I found were next to old schools…

Thank you all!

I was hunting at a site yesterday. Interference from the neighboring cell tower was much better than last week. I was hunting a slightly different area with fewer targets, so I could run my D2 flat out. Modified fast, sensitivity Max, reactivity zero. I hit several good signals – at least for about 2/3 of the swing angles. The other third of the arc gave me iron tones. Every one I dug was a crusty old iron nail, or part of a nail. Note that I was only digging these signals if they were small. The large ones with iron tones with a small good tone on the end I passed over. I checked the holes again after recovering each nail and there was nothing left - not even in pinpoint mode. The MI6 also couldn’t find anything else in the hole or plug. These were not even that deep - generally 6 inches or less. For these small targets, how do you tell the difference between true iron false and a good target co-located with iron?

Againstmywill is on to something here. Ferromanganese is not magnetic (Ferrochrome is magnetic). Ferromanganese typically has a dark crust which your pictures show (Ferrochrome does not). The high density fits. I cannot find any hardness information online. That may be because of the wide range of possible compositions in the Fe-Mn series along with other elements/minerals which may be added at a foundry to achieve specific properties.

Found two of these today, and one at another site a while back. Every one has the back shaft bent over in a hook shape. These are both stamped C G Hussey & Co PGH PA. I know this company made copper goods including copper rivets. I am guessing they are a copper rivet? If so, anyone know how they were used? Thanks!

Dolomite is commonly found with the sulfide minerals pyrite and calcopyrite which are easily mistaken for gold. It is not usually associated with gold unless there has been some extensive hydrothermal alteration of the rock and deposition of hydrothermal quartz and iron - say, in association with a skarn deposit. However, the grain size of your rock is too small to be consistent with a skarn deposit, and it does not have any of the typical hallmarks of contact metamorphism.

Did a powdered sample of it fizz with acid? If so then it sounds like dolomite. If not, then your breath test suggests it may be Argillite. If it is Dolomite, market price might be around $50-$60 per ton for a supplier selling the product. That may depend on the purity. However the demand is going to be met by large mines shipping it out by the truckload. For a single boulder, it might be worth something as an ornamental stone if you can find a buyer. But the cost of shipping it would exceed the cost of the stone.

Gold is gold. That’s a gorgeous looking coin. Are you thinking about grading it?

The problem with pouring a weak acid on limestone is that the acid runs off and it is difficult to tell whether bubbles formed or you just trapped air bubbles in nooks and crannies of the rock when you poured the fluid over it. Ideally, with a weak acid, you would immerse part of the rock and watch for a few minutes. If bubbles appear where there were no bubbles before, that is a positive result. With a stronger acid, most limestone would just fizz like crazy and there is no mistaking it. Depending on the limestone composition (carbonate versus dolomite versus aragonite), it may not react with acid without some help. For example, dolomite won’t react with acid unless you powder a sample of it first. If you open your mouth and breathe on it (make sure it is dry first ) like you’re trying to fog up glasses, do you get a musty/earthy smell? If so, it could be argillite – a slightly metamorphosed mudstone. That wouldn’t quite fit with the glistening description, and most argillite should be relatively soft. But it’s a thought. Any chance it could be a chunk of Portland cement? Let me know if any of those work out. Beyond that there’s not a whole lot I can do without seeing it in person. However a geology department at a local University, or even a local rock shop, might be able to ID it once they see it in person.

You could try an acid test. Typically, dilute hydrochloric acid would be used to check for calcium carbonate minerals and will result in vigorous fizzing. Lemon juice or vinegar are weaker and will produce bubbles if watched for a period of time. Muriatic acid is a commercially available form of more concentrated hydrochloric acid (with other impurities). If you try muriatic, you may want to dilute some first. Depending on your concentration, a 5 part water to 1 part acid dilution may work. When diluting acid, always add the acid to the water - not the other way around. Drip your acid on the rock and watch for a reaction. With weaker acids, you may want to immerse part of the rock in the acid and see if bubbles form.

Down in that neck of the woods, it would almost certainly have to be a sedimentary rock. You have a lot of sandstones, mudstone etc. Depending on where you found it, there is also the possibility it could be a chunk of limestone washed down river. Since it glistens in the sun, at this point I would guess at sandstone or possibly limestone. If you rub it or scratch at it with a screwdriver, does it shed any grains of sand? Alternatively if you happen to have some dilute hydrochloric acid (0.1 molar), you could drip some on the stone and if it fizzes, it is limestone.

Can you describe the texture of the rock or say where you found it? If you look closely, does it appear to have tiny fossils or crystal surfaces that glisten in the sun? Based solely on the color of the rock and the general fine-grained texture, I would guess at some extrusive igneous rock like rhyolite, or a sedimentary rock like limestone or shale. There are a lot of differences in those rocks. Where you found it and what it looks like up close could help narrow that field (or suggest other possibilities).

With some nice stuff like that, you should’ve posted sooner! We would’ve all started asking you about your settings. 😁

You can buy hardness test kits, but unless you’re going to do this a lot you can probably make do with items on hand. If you have a broken ceramic pot or a porous ceramic plant pot or a piece of unfinished ceramic tile, any of those would do. You want white ceramic/porcelain. Otherwise you may have trouble discerning the true streak color. The idea here is minerals softer than your streak plate will leave a characteristic streak color. Minerals harder than your streak plate won’t. Either way, it is an important diagnostic indicator.

Some common things you might have on hand to test hardness: your finger nail (about 2.5), a copper - not zinc but copper - penny (about 3.5), A pocket knife blade (about 5.5), glass (about 5.5 to 7), a steel nail (about 6.5). There is a difference between scratching and pushing hard enough to break the surface of the sample - especially if using a pointed object like a nail. With the exception of your finger nail, try using the rock to scratch each of these items. You can use your finger nail to scratch the rock. As jasong mentioned, definitely use unglazed porcelain for the streak test. Post your results back here and we’ll see what we can do!

Yep, no silly questions, but we might have some silly answers!🤪 You’ll get some good help here - there are a lot of knowledgeable people. So, do you have a detector yet or are you still looking?

Looks like it might be a piece of blue lace agate. There is a wide variety to the color and pattern, but a picture of a typical piece is attached. If your stone scratches glass, that would be a good indicator of agate. Agate will be much harder than calcite, but not as hard as ruby, sapphire or diamond. Agate is relatively tough – I have dropped an agate slab on a concrete floor before without it breaking. I wouldn’t advise trying it too often... Agate will be best if shaped and polished - don’t try to facet it. I would try to make sure that the finished stone doesn’t have any fractures. You’ll either need to go to a jeweler to have a ring custom-made to fit the stones, or you’ll have to have the stones cut to a predetermined size and shape to fit a standard ring. Were you planning on turning this into a finished product yourself or were you going to take it to a jeweler or lapidary? If you are planning on turning this into two rings, be aware that it will have to be cut in half, and the trim saw blade thickness will take a chunk out of the size. Depending on what you envision for the final rings, you might need to find a larger piece. There are Internet maps available of rock hounding locations in Arizona and what can be found at those locations. You could always buy some rough stones online, but I am guessing you want the stone to be something he found and would prefer it to be out of a single piece, correct?

Unfortunately, your fingers are in great focus in the first picture but not the rock. Is this rock one of the two the second picture? Are the two rocks in the second picture fairly light and relatively soft? If you have a piece of unglazed porcelain, do a “streak test” by scraping them on the porcelain. If it leaves in a black line, I would say it’s probably coal. If they are harder, or leave a different streak color, then there are a number of options.

Now if only we could ask it where to go to find gold coins, valuable rings, or stashes with a metal detector...

Alberta does have geodes and it looks like you are close to British Columbia. British Columbia has thundereggs. What you have has a little more filling then a typical geode, but less filling than a typical thunderegg. So, I would say it is sort of a gradation between the two. Just be careful of picking anything like that up on public lands. I understand that is against the law up there.

Unfortunately, gold does not cleave into sheets or flat flakes. Shiny flakes sound like mica to me. That would be a sheet silicate (phyllosilicate). Muscovite can occur in a range of colors (including orangey and goldish) depending on the impurities. I imagine when you swish the water in your pan, those flakes move fairly easily? Gold, being dense, would settle into the bottom crease of your pan and not move very easily.

A portion of the lower part of the broken surface appears to have the scalloped appearance typical of conchoidial fracturing. This is something I would expect to find in fine grained silicates (like a agate, chert, or obsidian). Yet, the top portion very definitely appears to have grains weathering out of the groundmass. It scratches porcelain, so that rules out the typical hematite and ironstone nodules, but is the hard portion the grains? I concur with Jasong the little streak color you got was from surface residue/oxidation. Let’s rule out some other possibilities. If you have any dilute hydrochloric acid, drip some one some of the surfaces. If it fizzes, you have some calcite cementation. In that case, try to figure out exactly what fizzes.